“It is related that on one occasion he set out for the mountain of Sarandib accompanied by about thirty poor brethren.…they were assailed by hunger on the way to the mountain, in an uninhabited locality, and lost their bearings. They asked the shaikh to allow them to catch one of the small elephants which are exceedingly numerous in that place and are transported thence to the capital of India. The shaikh forbade them, but their hunger got the better of them, they disobeyed his instruction, and seizing a small elephant, they slaughtered it and ate its flesh.. That night as they slept, the elephants gathered from every direction and came upon them, and they went smelling each man and killing him until they made an end to all of them.”
—-From the Travels of Ibn Battuta, AD 1325-1354, Chapter VI, translated by H A R Gibb
Driving on the tarmac road that bisects Minneriya National Park in Sri Lanka, cutting through the elephant corridor which functions like a deer crossing, complete with appropriate black on yellow internationally approved signage to that effect, a single male decided to make his move, stopping traffic while he ambled by, and, taking an apparent dislike to the public bus while ignoring the auto rickshaws and tourist minivans, approached and tore off both side view mirrors, then continued on his way.
